Professional Development of Nursing Professionals
Introduction
The nursing profession is the backbone of the healthcare system because nurses have the role of providing care to patients; this significantly impacts the patient’s health outcomes. The IOM report provides recommendations supporting the changes in the nursing profession and care delivery in the healthcare system. This essay will thus discuss the impact of the IOM report on nursing practice.
The first message from the IOM report suggests that nurses should practice to the full scope as per their training and education (Ferrell et al., 2013). This message supports the removal of restrictions that limit nurses such as NP to practice to the full extent. Implementing this recommendation will increase access to health care because APRNs will practice to the full capacity. Secondly, the report emphasizes the need for nurses to further their education and training through a better education system. A continuous academic advancement for the nursing staff will ensure that nurses provide quality, safe, and patient-centered care. An improved education system will offer nurses the required mechanisms to assess and improve care standards as well as the safety and quality of care. Moreover, nurses will be able to adapt and respond to changes in health, and particularly the ever-evolving technology changes. Thirdly, the IOM report points out the importance of nurses collaborating with other interprofessional in the healthcare system to redesign the healthcare system (Ferrell et al., 2013). This implies that nurses need to take a leadership role and be actively involved in the transformation of the healthcare system. The last message is that the data on the healthcare workers need to be improved to ensure that there is adequate healthcare workforce to meet the health needs of Americans (Palatnik, 2016).
The IOM report focuses on attaining higher educational levels and improving practice through a well-developed educational system. The report will thus impact the educational standards in the nursing profession where the number of nurses with a BSN degree is likely to increase. Moreover, nurses will further their education to attain a Master of Science in Nursing and Doctorate of nursing practice to improve the standards of the nursing profession. During further training and education, nurses will develop the necessary leadership skills to become leaders in healthcare organizations and acquire the leadership skills to steer changes within the healthcare system (Palatnik, 2016).
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